Avigdor Lieberman Threatens Action Against Iran If No Progress In 3 Months

[Joanne98]

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Tuesday told Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi that the West should give Iran three months to respond to diplomatic overtures regarding its contentious nuclear program.

If within three months Iran has still not responded, Lieberman said, "action must be taken."

The foreign minister also asked Berlusconi to implore Russia on his visit there next month to cut off ties with the militant Hamas and Hezbollah organizations, which have close ties to Iran.

During their private talks in Rome, Lieberman promised Berlusconi that the Israeli government was committed to peace with the Palestinians.

Lieberman also extended an invitation to Berlusconi on behalf of Prime Minister Netanyahu to come visit Israel along with his ministers.

As in his meeting with Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini the day before, Lieberman still refrained from endorsing the idea of a Palestinian state - a cornerstone of Western efforts to solve the Middle Rast conflict.

Lieberman, on his first official trip abroad, will next visit Paris on his tour of European capitals.

The hard-line foreign minister has raised concerns in the West with fiery rhetoric seen as aiming to topple the policy of predecessor Tzipi Livni.

In his first speech as foreign minister, Lieberman said concessions to Palestinians would only invite war and declared that Israel was not bound by commitments it made at a 2007 U.S.-sponsored summit in Annapolis.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/05/avigdor-lieberman-threate_n_196701.html